Journal
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Volume 67, Issue 2, Pages 238-248Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbr155
Keywords
Early origins of health; Functional health status; Health disparities; Life course analysis; Minority aging (race; ethnicity); Socioeconomic status
Funding
- University of Colorado [NICHD R21 HD51146]
- Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania
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We examine race/ethnic and nativity differences in objective measures of physical performance (i.e., peak expiratory flow, grip strength, and gait speed) in a nationally representative sample of older Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. We also examine whether detailed measures of childhood and adult health and socioeconomic status (SES) mediate race/ethnic differences in physical performance. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study, a population-based sample of older Americans born before 1947, and 3 measures of physical performance. Nested ordinary least squares models examine whether childhood and adult health and SES mediate race/ethnic differences in performance. We find large and significant race/ethnic and nativity differences in lung function, grip strength, and gait speed. Adjusting for childhood and current adult health and SES reduces race/ethnic differences in physical performance but does not eliminate them entirely. Childhood health and SES as well as more proximal levels of SES are important determinants of race/ethnic disparities in later life physical performance. The analysis highlights that a large proportion of race/ethnic and nativity disparities result from health and socioeconomic disadvantages in both early life and adulthood and thus suggests multiple intervention points at which disparities can be reduced.
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